Sao Paulo enters third day of subway strike amid World Cup worries

Protesting workers beaten back by police in violent scenes just six days
before Brazilian city due to host World Cup opening match

By Agencies

8:33AM BST 07 Jun 2014

Subway workers in Sao Paulo were on Saturday to stage the third day of a strike that has brought chaos to the Brazilian city due to host the World Cup opener, as Fifa's vice-president urged authorities to make sure fans could get to the match.

As police fired tear gas and beat back striking workers with batons on Friday, Jim Boyce told the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper that the protests could cause difficulties for those trying to attend Thursday's opening match.

“The biggest concern is indeed what will happen with the protests. Fans must have assurances they can get to the stadium,” Mr Boyce said. “The aim of the demonstrations cannot be Fifa. It is not responsible for the problems,” he insisted, noting that the government should be the target.

The protesting workers had been picketing and blocking subways in the second day of the indefinite strike, which has raised fears of unrest in the Brazilian mega-city during the global showpiece tournament.

Tear gas was used to break up a demonstration blocking access to at least one metro station, while a third of the city’s subway stops remained closed on Friday. More than 125 miles of traffic choked city streets.

The strike delayed several Fifa officials for over two hours as they travelled to a conference ahead of the World Cup.

World Cup organisers have urged fans to use public transportation to stadiums on game days at 12 host cities, but just a fraction of the transportation projects promised for the tournament have been delivered.

Frustration with those broken promises and the ballooning cost of new World Cup stadiums contributed to widespread protests that drew over a million Brazilians into the streets during a warm-up tournament last year. The government is braced for another wave of demonstrations, but protests so far this year have lacked the spontaneous energy and scale of 2013.